The magic of the MicroCell (and WiFi)

Telephony Online’s Kevin Fitchard believes that AT&T’s 3G MicroCell could become “another pillar in AT&T’s dual-network strategy” – WiFi and cellular, that is.  AT&T has become increasingly reliant on WiFi to offload mobile data traffic from its 3G network, with iPhones now connecting to WiFi automatically in AT&T hotspots, causing a 66% leap in the number of hotspot connections.

John Stankey, president and CEO of AT&T Operations, explained this in his keynote speech at SUPERCOMM: “We’re…focusing on how we make WiFi and licensed spectrum a more seamless experience for customers…You’re going to see micro and macro in terms of licensed and unlicensed spectrum.  This is a key architecture element we’re all going to have to come to grips with.”

Telephony Online points to an earlier interview with Ralph de la Vega, CEO of AT&T Mobility, suggesting that the 3G MicroCell is also set to become part of this offload strategy.  “It’s not going to be one thing; it will be a combination of things: taking fiber closer to the home, Wi-Fi and femtocells.  A combination of all of those is going to help us manage bandwidth and provide a great experience to our customers no matter where they connect,” says de la Vega.

So is it WiFi for hotspots and femtocells for the home?  There would be some logic to this approach from AT&T’s perspective.  It’s one thing for a carrier to offload mobile data traffic onto its own managed WiFi network, but quite another to encourage its customers to switch to their own private WiFi networks at home, where the carrier retains no involvement whatsoever.

Alternatively, will WiFi take on femtocells and win?

Picking up on the WiFi / femto theme, Stacey Higginbottom at GigaOm asks “who needs femtocells if we have WiFi?”  According to Stacey we’ve seen WiFi take on femtocells in the enterprise and win (when did that happen?), so as Wi-Fi gets embedded in more and more phones femtocells will become unnecessary.  But most observers are now seeing WiFi and femtocells as complementary.  For example, Senza Fili’s Monica Paolini expresses this more balanced view on the Cisco Community site.

3G MicroCell gets 9.5 out of 10 Stammys!

Renowned tech blogger Paul Stamatiou gave the AT&T 3G MicroCell a review this week.  He had some problems getting a GPS location fix, which meant that activation took a long time, but apart from this the review is very positive:

• “5 bars in every room and no degradation of call quality while moving about”
• “Call quality is as good as I have ever heard from an iPhone 3GS”
• “I have not experienced any degradation of call quality, even when I was soaking up tons of my bandwidth”
• “I gladly paid for the MicroCell out of my own wallet, which allowed me to dump my $26/month Vonage VoIP setup and not have to deal with having two phone numbers.”
• “Setup was a huge pain, but I can forget about that for the great service and call quality it provides.”

Overall, the AT&T 3G MicroCell was awarded 9.5 out of 10 Stammys.

Also this week, The Apple Blog updated its MicroCell review and reported some teething problems with service outages (attributed to firmware updates).  It seems that the problems are now fixed, except that calls to India are not the highest quality (which might not necessarily be the MicroCell’s fault).

More on China Unicom’s 3G Inn femtocell

ABI’s Aditya Kaul suggests that China Unicom is “looking at a massive [femtocell] rollout”, ramping up towards end of next year.  He believes it’s not a coincidence that the operator’s ‘3G Inn’ femtocell announcement has coincided with the (WiFi-less) Chinese iPhone launch, and points out that, unlike the AT&T 3G MicroCell and the Vodafone Access Gateway, it will be harder to track the 3G Inn’s progress via the blogs and Twitter due to the great Chinese firewall!

Vodafone Access Gateway & WiFi

Last week we heard about problems with Total Telecom’s trial of the Vodafone Access Gateway interfering with WiFi.  This week the problem is resolved, but only at the cost of moving the WiFi Access Point and the femtocell 6 feet apart.  It seems the trouble was probably caused by a poor quality spectrum filter in the WiFi unit.  (Fortunately this is not a complicated thing to get right, so those anticipated integrated femto / WiFi home gateways will not need to be 6 feet wide.)

SpiderCloud ‘not a femtocell’

The Register says SpiderCloud Wireless is stressing that its new E-RAN offering is not a femtocell play.  Apparently this is because the E-RAN is fully integrated with the network and can therefore support two-way handover.  If this is indeed SpiderCloud’s claim, they may be surprised to discover that femtocells are also fully integrated with the network and can support two-way handover (although not yet in a standardised way).

Meanwhile, Peter Jarich questions the viability of an offering that relies on wireless carriers as a channel into large enterprises, and Unstrung regrets that the company has nothing to do with Spiderpig.

Wireless Week sceptical about femtocells

Probably as a result of too much hype in the early days, there’s now a common misconception that femtocells have been around for ages and that that consumer adoption has been disappointing.  For example, Wireless Week comments: “femtocells…have simply failed to thrive.”  But the reality is that femtocells are still a new technology.  Operators are only just beginning to deploy femtocells commercially and have not yet started actively marketing them.

In other news…

• Finding the right small-cell architecture for 4G.
• Imagine if every femtocell came equipped with a 1 TB hard drive…
• How femtocell billing works.
• Femtocells and iPhone Moms (er, Mums).
• Carriers must not overlook the importance of successfully marketing femtocells.
• 3 UK says data now represents 94% of its network traffic.
• Dual mode is ‘in’, but Nokia loses ground in the WiFi handset market.
• Smartphones to overtake feature phones by 2012.
• MiFi sales disappointing.
• Interview with Dave Gross of GWT and Shlomo Gadot of Percello.
• Tatara selects CCPU.
• SafeNet explains femto security.
• Oops, lost one…

China Unicom launches “3G Inn” femtocell

According to an announcement in Chinese (translation here), China Unicom has launched a commercial 3G femtocell service targeted at “high end” consumers.  The so-called “3G Inn” service requires a 2 Mbps residential broadband connection, and is available for a monthly fee.  With a mere 140 million subscribers, China Unicom is a long way behind market leader China Mobile (which uses the home-grown TDS-CDMA standard for its own 3G network).  But China Unicom may gain a competitive advantage from its femtocell deployment, especially as WiFi is not supported on Chinese smartphones (including the iPhone).  Think Femtocell provides further thoughts on the launch here, and on the recent China Femtocell Symposium here.

Indoor coverage problems affect UK workers

The problem of delivering mobile voice coverage and data capacity in office buildings is getting worse, making a very powerful argument for picocells (or enterprise femtocells, as some prefer to call them).

A new survey from ADC has found that poor mobile phone coverage is negatively affecting work for more than a quarter of UK employees.  The survey found that over 60% of people rely on their mobile phone for their job, but almost two thirds of these complain of a less than perfect mobile phone signal in their workplace, and almost 28% say their work has suffered as a result.  In addition to lifts, stairwells and conference rooms, almost a quarter of respondents said they have coverage problems at their own desks.

And the problem is going to get worse as mobile data becomes increasingly important to business users.  According to figures recently published by Informa, mobile enterprise revenues are set to grow significantly, and will account for almost a quarter of total mobile data service revenues by 2014.

AT&T MicroCell rocks!

Here’s an interesting concept – “in-home mobility”.  One blogger describes his friend’s experience at home before acquiring AT&T’s 3G MicroCell: “If you stood perfectly still in the master bedroom you could reliably connect a call but isn’t mobility the point of having a cell phone?”  The 3G MicroCell solved the problem so well that the blogger was moved to comment, “In short, the microcell rocks!”

Vodafone Access Gateway recognised by The Independent

The Vodafone Access Gateway has made it into The Independent’s list of the 50 Best Gadgets.  Unfortunately, this UK newspaper’s record on science and technology is pretty dire (this is the paper that started the ridiculous rumour that mobile phones are killing bees), but it’s still interesting that the Vodafone femtocell has caught mainstream media attention despite very little publicity to date.

Meanwhile, Total Telecom’s trial of the Vodafone Access Gateway has hit a problem (a “VAG snag”, so to speak).  Apparently the home WiFi connection doesn’t work properly when the VAG is switched on, and Total Telecom suspects interference.  This sounds unlikely (I’ve never seen a similar complaint from any other femtocell user), but something strange is clearly going on there.

SpiderCloud Wireless launches Enterprise RAN

SpicerCloud Wireless has finally come out of stealth mode to launch its Enterprise Radio Access Network product.  The system is aimed at giving mobile operators a tool for providing in-building mobile coverage in enterprises, and consists of a central hub controlling a number of remote radio heads.  Oddly, the company seems to think that this will be differentiated by providing coverage for smaller areas than picocells, when in fact the system looks designed to compete with larger systems such as DAS.  It’s also not clear whether the E-RAN can provide multi-operator support – normally a primary requirement for large in-building deployments – although the ‘enterprise benefits’ page on the website suggests perhaps not.  “Soon you can outsource ‘Anything Wireless’ to the Mobile Operator”, says the headline.  Well, that might be ok for a smaller business (where a picocell would work pretty well), but I doubt it’s a message that will appeal to the IT manager at a larger enterprise.

Mobile data jam hits the headlines

Industry insiders have been discussing the coming mobile data capacity crunch for a long time already.  Mark Heath’s guest posting on Think Femtocell this week makes it clear that LTE will not solve the problem, and WiFi and femtocells are often discussed as options for mobile operators to offload data traffic.  Mark Lowenstein’s article on Fierce Wireless this week reflects this view: “femtocells, rather than being a customer-centric solution for indoor coverage, represent more of an operator-centric solution for effective network management in buildings, leveraging the broadband network,” says Lowenstein.

Now the mobile data crunch is beginning to enter the mainstream consciousness.  This week the BBC reported that mobile data traffic will increase 25 times by 2012, while corresponding revenues will only double.  “The consumption rate is far outweighing the network improvement rate,” says Bytemobile’s Graham Carey, “…there’s a crunch point coming.”  The Beeb also quotes ADC vice president John Spindler: “Today the primary use for wireless is happening indoors…What’s going to happen if carriers do not respond appropriately?  They are going to crush the user experience.”

WiFi Direct vs Bluetooth – but will femtocells beat them both?

Nick Hunn notes the press interest in the battle between Bluetooth and the new WiFi Direct standard (aimed at making it easy to connect devices directly to one another).  However, he believes there is “another stalking technology” which could make direct connections between mobile devices redundant.  “If femtocells take off and users get used to using the network itself for transferring data between devices,” says Hunn, “then ad-hoc transfers may lose out altogether.”

Airvana says the femtocell’s time has come

According to Airvana CEO Randy Battat, “The femtocell’s time has come.”  In a press announcement of the company’s 3Q09 financial results, Battat says “We have been awarded several commercial deployments around the world with contracts in place and purchase commitments for significant volumes in 2010 and beyond.  Both our CDMA and UMTS femtocell products are in the final stages of software development and testing, with commercial production starting late this quarter and ramping in the first quarter of 2010.  We expect operator launches with Airvana products, especially in North America and Asia, starting in the first half of 2010.”

In other news…

• picoChip launches “Class 3” femtocell reference design with 2 km range – The Femto Forum defines 3 femtocell categories: Class 1 (typically residential), Class 2 (primarily indoor for enterprise) and Class 3 (for rural, metro and wider area deployment).
• Ubiquisys and Intrinsyc show demo at Symbian show.
• EU urges member countries to assign 790-862 MHz spectrum for mobile broadband.
• “Many of the reactions to proposed cell phone sites are based on misunderstandings about health issues”.

FCC’s net neutrality rules could help femtocells

On Thursday the FCC approved six rules for wired and wireless broadband Internet connections, but left the details of the rules open to public debate for the next 60 days.  One of the rules states that “subject to reasonable network management, a provider of broadband Internet access service must treat lawful content, applications, and services in a non-discriminatory manner.”

As well as preventing a broadband provider from blocking Skype because it competes with its own VoIP service, this also means that Verizon and AT&T cannot block each other’s femtocell traffic on their fixed line networks.  Neither can they block Sprint’s femto traffic.

In practice, femtocell traffic is not being blocked on US broadband networks today (and there would be very little justification for an ISP to shape or throttle femto traffic for network management purposes).  However, some analysts continue to raise concerns that traffic blocking could potentially damage the femtocell market, and the new rules, when ratified, should finally put these concerns to bed – at least in the US.

One controversial aspect of the new net neutrality rules is that they extend to wireless networks as well as fixed.  CTIA has hinted at legal action, saying the rules “degrade the value” of the public spectrum carriers have licensed.  Further details of the impact of net neutrality for wireless can be found here.

MTNL wants 3G femtocells

India’s state-run Mahanagar Telephone Nigam Ltd is seeking bids for the deployment of 3G femtocells in Delhi and Mumbai.  A pilot project is expected to be up and running within 3 months.  According to MTNL, the aim is to “develop world class telecom facilities for its esteemed subscribers and efficient utilization of spectrum which is a precious scare [sic] national resource”.

3G MicroCell selected as Light Reading ‘Top Pick’

Light Reading has selected AT&T’s 3G MicroCell as one of its Wireless Infrastructure Top Picks.  According to Dan Jones, the Cisco-branded box is “an important proof point in the evolving femtocell industry” which could be important for AT&T in helping the company to “ease recent network congestion issues”.

The other Wireless Infrastructure Top Picks were Ericsson’s RBS 6000 software basestation and Vihaan Networks’ WorldGSM solar powered basestation.

eBooks and femtocells

Some time ago, ThinkFemtocell proposed that femtocells could improve the user experience for eBooks in the home.  With this in mind, I was interested to see a discussion amongst users of Amazon’s Kindle eBook.  Some users were having trouble downloading books over the AIRAVE’s CDMA 1x connection, and Amazon eventually confirmed that “EV-DO is necessary for a good web experience on the Kindle”.  So it seems that 3G femtocells are needed in order for ThinkFemtocell’s vision to be realised.  This might give Barnes & Noble an advantage with its own ereader, the “Nook”.  Wireless connectivity for the Nook is provided by AT&T, which has already launched a 3G femtocell.

Light Reading reviews the Vodafone Access Gateway

Gabriel Brown summarises his experiences after a few months of using the VAG, concluding that “the technology works, is exceedingly simple to use, and has the potential to deliver advanced services and applications”.  One particularly impressive feature is that the femtocell provides much greater coverage than WiFi, despite the “tiny amount of power the device puts out”.  Gabriel notes that the industry should now feel confident to “move forward on developing advanced, high-value [femto] services”.

Total Telecom is also trialling the VAG, and “so far, it’s great”.  But what they really want is an “all-singing, all-dancing router with WiFi, cellular, and home networking support” (some people are never satisfied J).

In other news…

• Node H demonstrates 16 simultaneous calls on Percello PRC6500 femto SoC.
• AIRCOM International explains why femtocells are important (part 3).
• Another user review of the Sprint AIRAVE.
• Femtocells are just an extension of cable companies’ long association with wireless backhaul.
• Femtocell panel planned for Fierce Wireless’ 4G Reality Check online conference.
• ThinkFemtocell interview with Ubiquisys’ Keith Day.
• Survey finds consumers are impatient for faster mobile Internet.
• And another survey finds the same thing.
• Stoke clings to dream of seamless WiFi-to-cellular roaming.

Mobilkom Austria gives mixed messages on femtocells

Mobilkom has announced that it wants to deploy femtocells commercially in Austria next year (and possibly in other European mobile subsidiaries of parent company Telekom Austria).  However, the company’s top management provides little encouragement for vendors to respond enthusiastically to its RFP.  Mobilkom CTO Johann Pichler told Unstrung he believes that femtocells are good for improving indoor coverage in “specific cases, but not generally,” and that the price of a femtocell needs to be “in the range of a WiFi router”.  According to Total Telecom, Pichler is also sceptical about using femtocells to offload data traffic from the macro network, apparently contradicting conventional wisdom by suggesting that the problem will be solved by LTE.

Femto Forum announces Iu-h plugfest

The Femto Forum has announced the ‘1st Femto Forum UMTS Femtocell Plugfest’ which will take place in March next year at ETSI’s facilities in the South of France.  There is widespread vendor support for the initiative, which aims to validate 3GPP’s Iu-h femtocell standard.

Current Analysis Research Director Peter Jarich commented, “a standard is meaningless until vendors and operators alike know that products are actually conforming to it, making interoperability testing a critical component of the femtocell market’s success.” But ABI’s Aditya Kaul believes that interoperability is a secondary consideration for operators, and that they are still more concerned with developing the business case.

Kevin Fitchard at Telephony Online looks forward to a time when femtocells are “standardized to a point customers can practically buy them off the shelf at a Best Buy or Radio Shack and expect them to work” (but his conjecture that femtocells are “a very European affair” is a rather strange one).

More 3G MicroCell news

Matt Ellenberger’s unboxing video for the 3G MicroCell shows how simple it is to set up and start using the device.  He seems like a happy customer.  Elsewhere, Mobiquizoid published a picture of the advert he received in the mail for AT&T’s femtocell in Atlanta.  The pricing is subtly different from Charlotte, where the free calling plan costs $20.  In Atlanta AT&T is trying two options – $15 for an individual free calling plan or $30 for a family plan.

Infonetics updates its FMC report

Infonetics Research has updated its FMC and Femtocell Equipment, Phones, and Subscribers report, finding “no evidence of the economic downturn having a major impact on the pace of FMC rollouts”.  The research firm expects a dozen major operators to launch femtocell services in 2010, giving the market “a kick-start”.

Sales of FMC network element equipment and femtocell equipment are forecast to grow to $7.4 billion worldwide by 2013, slightly down on the $8 billion forecast in the original version of the report back in March.  The number of femtocells sold is expected to increase five-fold from 2009 to 2010.

Smartphones are the real network hogs

Airvana has found that a typical smartphone generates eight times the network signalling load per MB of data transferred compared to a 3G connected laptop.  This “load multiplier effect” is caused by the fact that smartphones are always on, moving between cell sites and continually querying the network.  With iSuppli forecasting smartphone shipments to grow from nearly 200 million in 2009 to 450 million in 2013, this looks like a problem that’s going to get much worse.  Mobile Europe and Rethink Wireless both spoke to Airvana’s Dave Nowicki, who suggested that offloading smartphone data traffic onto femtocells will help operators stay in control.

How to make femtocells faster than WiFi

Dean Bubley says a mobile operator could strike a deal with a broadband provider to “over-provision” capacity to its femtocell gateway, thereby releasing a constraint on the backhaul – but only for femtocell traffic.  Dean suggests that “everybody wins” in this scenario.  The user gets a blazing-fast femto connection, the mobile operator offloads more traffic and has a happier customer, and the broadband provider gets extra revenue for doing very little.

Picocells & femtocells can solve the spectrum crisis

Carl Weinschenk ponders the “looming spectrum crisis” discussed by FCC Chairman Julius Genachowski at last week’s CTIA conference, and concludes that the cellular industry will not live up to expectations unless it meets the challenge of spectrum scarcity.  “The smart money says that picocells and femtocells are the best bets for keeping the problem under control,” says Weinschenk.

Other news

• Total Telecom says momentum in the femtocell market is picking up.
• ComputerWorld: “if seamlessness matters, look for femtocells to really take off”.
• AIRCOM International explains why femtocells are important (part 2).
• Mark Hay ploughs a lone furrow with 2G femtocells.
• Will Franks expands on location validation for femtocells.
• Manish Singh tries to convince Telecom TV femto-sceptic Ian Scales.
• GigaOM says femtocells won’t last long – but you have to pay if you want to know why (don’t think I’ll bother).
• David Chambers considers WiFi and femtocell as options for traffic offload.

AT&T expands 3G MicroCell availability

According to AT&T’s website, the 3G MicroCell is now available in Atlanta (29 stores) and Columbia (3 stores).  This follows last week’s launch in Raleigh (11 stores) and the original market of Charlotte NC (19 stores), making 62 stores in total.  One delighted customer commented, “Holy crap – AT&T 3g Microcell totally RULES.  5 bars in my house – I was lucky to have 1 before!”

It looks like AT&T has done very little so far by way of promotion.  Jason Nash (who provided one of the first and most comprehensive blog reviews of the device) hasn’t seen a single ad for the Microcell.  “Only reason I know is I saw it on MacRumors,” he comments on Twitter.  I did find one person who had received some promotional materials – (unfortunately not in an area where the MicroCell is available – oops!).

Meanwhile, AT&T came under further pressure this week over its 3G network coverage and performance.  (Verizon launched an aggressive ad campaign claiming superior 3G network coverage, playing on the “There’s an app for that” iPhone ad campaign with its own “There’s a map for that” ad.)  Speaking at the CTIA IT & Entertainment conference, AT&T CTO John Donovan highlighted AT&T’s substantial ongoing investments in upgrading its 3G network, and pointed out that AT&T has had to content with 5000% growth in data traffic over the last 3 years.

In an interview following his speech, Donovan also gave further details of how the 3G MicroCell plays in AT&T’s overall network strategy.  He said that AT&T will make the femtocell available to all its subscribers, and called it “one piece of the carrier’s overall network infrastructure.”  He also said that AT&T will “emphasize the technology more in certain markets where it will make a bigger difference in the user experience, such as areas where the carrier is still using 1900MHz.”

Senior industry figures advocate femtocells

In a keynote speech at the CTIA conference, FCC Chairman Julius Genachowski warned the wireless industry that there isn’t enough spectrum to meet the future demands of mobile users.  He cited femtocells as part of the solution.

In another CTIA talk, Qualcomm CEO Paul Jacobs also put his weight behind femtocells as the answer to continued network performance enhancements.  “That’s how we’re going to get these big increases,” said Jacobs.  ”We think we can get 8 to 10 times improvement in user experience by building up a dense network and managing the interference between the macro network and these femto networks.”

UK mobile coverage problems revealed

New research has found that a third of UK consumers and small businesses regularly experience mobile coverage problems.  “Large numbers of consumers and small businesses are still having problems making even basic voice calls,” said Anna Bradley, chairwoman of the Communications Consumer Panel which advises Ofcom.  The Panel is urging a ‘try before you buy’ system, with consumers being given time to check their coverage at home and work before being locked into a mobile phone contract.

Picocells are perfect for India

According to ip.access VP Mark Pittick, 2G picocells are the most cost-effective way for Indian mobile operators to solve network capacity and coverage problems caused by rapid subscriber growth.  In an interview with Indian publication Voice and Data, Mr Pittick said that operators in India today are looking to provide 2G picocells for business customers.  “There is an immediate business case, not to say urgent need, for this type of solution,” he said.

T-Mobile USA expands its UMA service to business customers

T-Mobile’s new ‘Wi-Fi Calling with MobileOffice’ service allows business customers to make free calls over WiFi in the office (as long as they have a UMA enabled BlackBerry phone).  The service relies on BlackBerry’s MVS system to integrate with the office PBX, giving users a single number for their mobile and desk phones while in the office.  But with no fixed line assets to protect, T-Mobile is also positioning its dual mode service as a way for businesses to save money by getting rid their desk phones altogether.

Femtocells to be distributed free in smart meters (well, maybe)

According to Mobile Exec magazine, UK homes could get free or subsidised femtocells as a result of a government drive that will see smart meters fitted in every household and business across England and Wales from 2016.  Mobile Exec speculates that smart meters equipped with GSM communications could include femtocells to ensure a good mobile connection for feeding back meter readings to the energy company.  Unfortunately this logic may be flawed.  As explained by Personal Computer World: “One possibility would be to have a WiFi gateway talking wirelessly to the meter.  But this presents the problem of what to do about homes with no broadband”.  It seems the idea is to use a femtocell instead, under the misapprehension that the femtocell can work without a broadband connection.  Oh well, never mind.

DoCoMo femtocell on display at ITU

I went to the ITU show in Geneva for the day on Wednesday.  Robert Mugabe was there, but it has to be said that there wasn’t much else of note happening.  The show was a shadow of its former self, but I did find one femtocell on display on the DoCoMo stand.  According to the stand rep, DoCoMo is still on track to launch its HSPA femtocell this year.

In other news…

• Sprint includes AIRAVE femtocell in turnkey back-office solution for MVNOs.
• The Register provides a belated review of the Vodafone Access Gateway (generally positive, although they expected hand-in to work – obviously didn’t read the FAQ).
• Vodafone Access Gateway tear-down report now available.
• Hay Systems’ Mark Hay says “[femtocell] success is coming but not in the timescale that most femtocell vendors were hoping for.”
• Huawei says operators could promote femtocells as environmentally friendly.
• New IDC report asks “Picocell-Enabled Enterprise Services in Western Europe: Dead in the Water?”  (At $640 for 4 pages I guess it needs a sensationalist title).
• AIRCOM International explains why femtocells are important.
• Ubiquisys shows femto apps on a feature phone without WiFi.
• Airvana explains why location locking for femtocells is necessary.
• On-Waves expands market for (ip.access) picocells on ships.
• David Chambers and Doug Knisely shed light on IMS standards for femtocells.
• Zahid Ghadialy explains femtocell standards in 3GPP.

Engadget reviews AT&T’s 3G Microcell

AT&T expanded the rollout of its 3G Microcell to Raleigh in North Carolina this week, enabling Engadget to get their hands on one for testing.  “Without getting all long-winded on you,” they conclude, “the long and short of it is this: yeah, it really does work.”  Here are some of the details…

• Setup was simple, and the device activated in 30 minutes.
• Engadget thinks the box is rather big.
• “Calls were as clear as ever.”
• “One huge benefit of the 3G MicroCell over Sprint’s AIRAVE is data support.”
• “Web surfing and emailing was buttery smooth over 3G.”
• “We were slightly disturbed by how toasty the top got.”
• “We dig that AT&T will let users buy the box and then keep using it sans any monthly fees.”

The Apple Blog reviews the 3G Microcell

Charles Jade was always going to be hard to convince.  He opened his Apple Blog posting by accusing AT&T of “making the customer pay more and leeching off broadband providers”.  However, he came round after testing the 3G Microcell: “Overall, I am very pleased…and give it the highest praise an Apple devotee can: it just works!”

• “I was pleasantly surprised at how simple setup was.”
• “Call quality ranges from good…to static-free excellence…always better than the overpriced VoIP service from Time Warner Cable.
• “As for data speeds, it’s like being on Verizon’s network, that is very good.”
• “I’ve found signal quality degrading through multiple walls.”
• “Turning off Wi-Fi on the iPhone seems to increase both range and reception at extended distances.”
• “Sure, there’s a $150 price tag on service AT&T should already provide, but it’s a price that I and many other long-suffering iPhone users will no doubt we willing to pay.”

What are others saying about the 3G Microcell?

The Engadget and Apple Blog reviews have dozens of comments which make interesting reading.  As ever, views are polarised between those who are outraged that they need a femtocell and those who think it’s reasonable to pay for your own personal 3G cell at home.

Murphy Mac says “Bargain-basement DSL might not be the best choice for the MicroCell,” but overall, he concludes, “If I couldn’t get a signal at my house, I’d pay the $150 before I’d give up an iPhone.”

AT&T was criticised this week for high call-drop rates on the iPhone.  However, the company is still not saying much about the 3G Microcell, apart from rather mysteriously telling Apple Insider that issues with E911 (emergency calling) were delaying the rollout, and then completely retracting this statement.  Fierce Wireless reports AT&T spokesman Seth Bloom saying “The 3G Microcell complies with all FCC E911 requirements and the trials in Charlotte and Raleigh are going smoothly.”  The only other AT&T comment I could find is from Amy Bristle, who told Local Tech Wire in Raleigh that “Anybody who has coverage issues within a home may be interested in purchasing the MicroCell.”

David Chambers believes the 3G Microcell launch is the “next stage towards wide scale availability” of femtocells, likening the launch in Charlotte to the first crack in a dam that is set to burst.

AT&T customers have been tweeting about their experiences with the 3G Microcell.  Here’s a random selection:

• Bought an AT&T 3G Microcell yesterday, works great! Phone has 5 bars in the house now!
• AT&T Microcell is up and running. Took forever to activate and doesn’t work with wife’s non-3G phone. But 5 bars on the iPhone is sweet!
• Am I the only one who is shocked to learn that the AT&T 3G MicroCell does not support EDGE phones-only 3G phones?
• Just installed ATT Microcell. It works. This is the first time we have had good 3g signal at home.
• MicroCell is working great in Chapel Hill, NC! Went from 2 bars + Edge to 5 bars + 3G!!

Vodafone Access Gateway gets a positive review

Computer Shopper reviewed the Vodafone Access Gateway this week, giving it high marks for simplicity, and saying “the Gateway works beautifully”.  Their only gripe was that Vodafone is not offering cheaper calls and data over the femtocell, or any advanced femto services.

Unstrung Insider provides femtocell forecast

Unstrung’s latest Insider report, Femtocells: Market Outlook & Reality Check, says that there has been significant progress in resolving technical issues, but “the lack of revenue-generating business models…stands in the way of aggressive, widespread deployments.”  The report says consensus among femtocell vendors is that “orders will remain small – typically 10,000 to 20,000 units per carrier – well into the second half of 2010” (although I should say that ip.access wouldn’t agree on this point), with shipments of 500,000 units in 2009 increasing to around 4 million in 2010.

Unstrung also pointed out this week that Sprint and Verizon are keeping quiet on the launch of their own 3G femtocells in response to AT&T’s 3G Microcell.

Are femtocells poaching on wired nets?

Joanie Wexler at Network World tackles the controversial issue of femtocells using 3^rd party internet connections for backhaul, and gives a balanced view of the issues.  On the one hand, she says, there’s no real difference between accessing the Internet at home from an iPhone via WiFi or via a femtocell – why should the ISP have anything to complain about?  On the other hand, says Wexler, some ISPs might be tempted to block femtocell traffic.  But she points out that this issue is “being addressed…by the FCC, which has proposed making the blocking or degradation of a competitor’s traffic by an ISP illegal”.

BA introduces in-flight GSM

BA has introduced OnAir’s service on its new business class only flight from London City Airport to New York.  The service uses ip.access nanoGSM picocells on the plane to enable in-flight calls, SMS and data.  BA has not enabled voice calls as yet.  As a BA Executive Club member (sadly with a very junior status) I received an email from BA CEO Willie Walsh this week, apparently sent from the flight.  “In keeping with our pioneering spirit, [this] is the first transatlantic service with in-flight mobile communications provided by OnAir – which enables me to send this email from the comfort of my seat somewhere over the Atlantic,” said Mr Walsh.

In other news…

• Arun Handa of IntelliNet explains why Iu-h is important.
• Ubiquisys’ Will Franks says there are only four femto pioneers.
• Mr. Angry expects a free AT&T femtocell in New York.
• Alcatel-Lucent announces something mysterious in Russia.
• AirWalk raises another $5 million.
• Think Femtocell gives an update on 3G CDMA femto standards.
• Reuters reports on the curse of mobile data.
• Verizon kills the Hub (now perhaps people will stop confusing it with a femtocell).

The big story this week was AT&T’s 3G Microcell launch (covered here).  Elsewhere there wasn’t a huge amount of news in the world of femtocells – possibly because everyone was in Lisbon attending the Femto Forum plenary.  A couple of snippets…

Unstrung’s Michelle Donegan reported that her Vodafone Access Gateway is working.  She had a few problems getting it up and running, but the Vodafone support team (which apparently now includes five or six staff) have finally cracked it.

China Mobile (which hit half a billion subscribers this week) and Nokia Siemens Networks demonstrated a TD-LTE femtocell (far out!)  The demo showed live video streaming using a femtocell prototype, and according to China Mobile it “achieved throughputs which exceeded the typical xDSL speed currently possible via residential broadband connections”.

David Chambers reports on the femto discussion at last week’s 4G World conference.  Although it was universally acknowledged that small cells are essential in 4G to increase capacity, domestic LTE femtocells will not be required for a long time (at least according to AT&T).  This is because data speeds will be limited by domestic broadband, making LTE femtocells no faster than 3G ones for home users.  Furthermore, LTE handsets will be backward compatible so that they will work with 3G femtocells.  Having said this, another Think Femtocell post this week proposes that suburban areas might be the last to receive LTE coverage, and that femtocells could provide do-it-yourself solution for consumers.

AT&T tried to start selling its new 3G femtocell quietly via its retail stores in one city this week, releasing details about the device on a new 3G Microcell website.  But despite the low-key launch there was an immediate hailstorm of coverage in the blogosphere / twitterverse and in the mainstream telecoms press.  AT&T’s 3G Microcell is attracting interest as the first 3G femtocell to be deployed in North America (despite Sprint’s recent claims that they would “definitely be first”).

As reported by Unstrung some time ago, and reiterated this week, the 3G Microcell is supplied by Cisco and incorporates ip.access’ femtocell technology.  Like the recently launched Vodafone Access Gateway, it’s a 4-user device with closed access.  But the 3G Microcell is more sophisticated than the VAG in a number of ways – for example:

• It’s not just about coverage – AT&T offers an option of free calls from the femtocell for a monthly fee.
• Users can verify that they are using the femtocell (and therefore getting free calls) by looking for the “AT&T M-Cell” alpha tag on their phone idle screen (there’s a picture here and below).
• The provisioning and management systems are fully automated (for example the whitelist of authorised phones can be edited online by the end user).
• The 3G Microcell incorporates a router to prioritise femtocell traffic over other Internet traffic in the home.
• Location locking is enforced via GPS (just as with the Sprint and Verizon femtocells) – this is needed in the US due to regional spectrum licensing and strict location requirements for E911.

Jason Nash published the first end-user review of the 3G Microcell on Tuesday.  As well as a full description of the setup process, Jason explains the pricing…

Here are some interesting snippets from Jason’s review…

• “The difference [when using his cellphone at home] is night and day”
• “$150 is a good investment in the productivity I’ll get back when co-workers or customers call me on my cell phone.”
• “My sales rep, Nathan, was very helpful and mentioned they had sold 5 or so already that day.  Salisbury isn’t a big town so it shows the anticipation for the device.”

AT&T didn’t say much about the launch, but they did contact Engadget to explain that the pricing should be considered as a trial (implying that it could change before the device is launched nationwide).  After some false rumours about the pricing began to cause outrage on the Internet, an AT&T sales rep stepped in to clarify the situation.

You can’t buy the 3G Microcell from AT&T’s website, but you can enter a ZIP code to find out if it’s available in your area (Engadget reported that 28201 works, taking you to a list of 19 local stores where the device can be purchased).

The launch sparked off the now familiar storm of blog comments, divided between those who are outraged by the idea of having to pay to improve their mobile operator’s network coverage and those who think it’s a great idea.  Here’s a random sample of positive comments…

• “3G MicroCell has to be the best thing AT&T has done all year.”
• “I’m ready to pay for this NOW!”
• “I’m really considering dropping my Verizon phone line if the AT&T 3G MicroCell works well.”
• “I’ll get rid of my land line when this is available in Denver.”
• “Personally, I think $20 isn’t bad at all because it is cheaper than a landline, cheaper than Vonage and there is some QoS involved.”

And here are a few of the negative ones…

• “You’re paying the carrier extra money each month because they can’t provide you service that you’re already paying for.”
• “The entire reason femtocells are necessary is because your network sucks.”
• “AT&T says FU to wireless customers in 28 states. Femto plan is discounted if you buy their POTS which they only offer in 22 states.”
• “Let mobile carriers use your internet for free while you pay for the privilege.”
• “The femtocell covers a 5000 square foot range.  Unless you own a huge house, that will cover you and your neighbors, and yet you’re footing the bill.”

[The last couple of comments highlight a common misconception – a lot of people think that their femtocell and broadband connection are being used to improve the network for everyone.  They don’t understand that the femtocell provides a personal signal just for their own family and friends.]

Some other interesting snippets…

• This guy has decided to get two for use in his office.
• This person is wondering if the device is safe (nobody else seems to be worried).
• Here’s a conspiracy theorist – “Ever since AT&T came out wit the microcell I’ve only been able to get EDGE or GSM, no 3G in my house anymore.  Coincidence? No” [Er, yes actually].
• The location lock seems to be working.

What do the analysts think?

• ABI Research’s Aditya Kaul says “AT&T are known to have spend a lot of time and money on getting the femtocell service up and running.  If these pricing trials are any indication, this proves that AT&T continue to have the commitment towards femtocells and would like to play it right.”
• Engadget called the new design “cute” – preferring it to the original design of the trial unit (pictures of which were leaked earlier in the year).  One website bizarrely published a very old picture of the original ip.access Oyster 3G design.
• Juniper praises AT&T for focusing its marketing on the consumer proposition.
• PC Mag says the 3G Microcell could end AT&T’s iPhone troubles.
• Rethink Wireless says national rollout is expected in December.
• Slashgear thinks the woman in AT&T’s video promotions is ‘smug’.

Here are a few additional coverage links in the telecoms and geek press:

Apple blog, CNET, DSL reports, Engadget (published lots of articles), EE Times, Fierce Wireless, Gearlog, Gizmodo, Information Week, Mobile Burn,PC Mag, Phonedog, Slashgear, TechWorld, Telecompetitor, Unstrung, Wireless Week , Zacks

A ‘growing divide’ on 4G femtocells?

Fierce Wireless reports “a growing divide between those who believe femtocells and picocells are necessary in 4G coverage and those that don’t”.

In the Pro camp we find Clearwire CEO Bill Morrow, who used his talk at this week’s 4G World conference to urge network equipment vendors to focus on picocells, “because picocells and femtocells are going to be very necessary in the future”.

In the Anti camp, according to Fierce Wireless, is AT&T’s Senior VP of architecture and planning, Kris Rinne, who said at 4G World that AT&T Mobility is evaluating a 3G femtocell, but not currently planning to use femtocells to bolster its 4G network deployment though that could change over time.  (This doesn’t sound particularly anti-4G-femto to me, especially in light of Rinne’s reported comments at the conference that femtocells are “key to improved customer experience”.)

AT&T femtocell to launch next week?

Unstrung reported a leak by Gerald Turney, an AT&T retail connections manager from North Carolina: “AT&T 3G Microcell launching soon in a few locations in NC & GA,” he tweeted on Wednesday, having earlier posted about attending a training session on the device.  Zack’s Equity Research also reported that the launch will happen next week.  Turney’s tweets have since been removed, but not before Engadget and Gizmodo picked up on the story.

Electronista gives more details of the rumour, claiming a source on the show floor at 4G World, and showing a picture (courtesy of Mobiquizoid) of the 3G Microcell – a joint-branded AT&T / Cisco device.  It has been widely reported that Cisco and ip.access are supplying the femtocell solution for AT&T.

Cisco talks about its femtocell solution

According to Kittur Nagesh, Cisco’s senior director of Worldwide Service Provider marketing, Cisco is currently piloting a femtocell “solution” with major players.  He said we should expect an announcement soon on Cisco’s overall [femtocell] strategy, which will “mesh with the vendor’s connected home/connected business initiatives to support unified communications, video and collaboration applications”.  Cisco is an investor in UK femtocell specialist ip.access.

Meanwhile, Nagesh and other Cisco colleagues were out in force at 4G World tweeting from the conference talks and panel sessions.

Femto vs. WiFi debate rages on…

Endeavour partners claims that femtocells are “focused on solving a problem that is largely taking care of itself” – the problem being how to offload mobile data traffic from the macro network, and the solution (according to Endeavour) being WiFi.

Yankee Group Principal Analyst Vince Vittore notes that the issue was debated at this week’s 4G World conference.  “Someone finally asked the all-important question…I’ve got WiFi coverage all over my house.  Why do I need to buy a femto cell?”

But according to two new reports, operators are deluding themselves if they think the data offload problem will ‘take care of itself’.  Unwired Insight says that some 3G operators will run out of network capacity as early as next year if they don’t now start using complementary distribution methods, such as femtocells and broadcasting networks.  The company released a free white paper this week with further details as a sampler for its 120 page report: ‘Will 3G Networks Cope?’

Also this week, Neu Mobile published a free 77 page report with similar findings.  Neu tackles the WiFi question head on:

“Some commentators argue…that DSL/Cable broadband together with wifi meets customers’ needs and the additional expense of 3G (or 4G) wireless access is not justified.  It is our contention that service continuity/transparency and device choice are such significant consumer requirements as to necessitate full indoor 3G (and 4G) service for voice and broadband data…Femtocells are the way to deliver this cost effectively.”

Femto Business Case revisited

Informa analyst Gareth Willmer reports the ongoing debate over the business case for femtocells.  According to Willmer, “Pricing appears to be a central concern,” with $50 being bandied about as an acceptable wholesale price to operators.

In my view this deserves to be challenged.  Signals Research Group’s definitive work on the subject concludes that the business case is actually not very sensitive to the femtocell wholesale price, and that operators can make money with femtocells at well over $200.  In fact, I have never seen any study with a different conclusion.  So come on you femtocell business case sceptics, let’s see your working!  Or is $50 just a number plucked out of thin air?

FON & femtocells

This week Ubiquisys and FON announced a partnership to create FON-enabled femtocells.  Will it work?  Sadly not – here’s why.

In other news…

• Demand for 3G femtocells increasing but market supply remains low.
• Technical papers on Femtocells in this month’s IEEE Communication Magazine.
• Report on public policy issues for femtocells.
• BroadbandGenie exaggerates Vodafone Access Gateway problems.
• Josh Adelson says femtocells and broadband can play nicely.
• AIRAVE ‘a hit’ but doesn’t work in college dorms.
• Astra, Pirelli and NSN to build 3G femtocells with satellite backhaul.
• Sumitomo to build femtocells with Continuous Computing (“the only company deploying uniquely architected systems” – how could they not be?).
• Femtocells feature in the Christian Science Monitor!
• Home Gateway Initiative sees CPE supporting multiple wireless access standards (including femto).
• Spotify overwhelmed by mobile demand.